Coney Island’s 30th Anniversary Mermaid Parade (23 June 2012)

I had never been to the Mermaid Parade so I was happy that the early summer heat wave had dissipated and the rain clouds stayed clear of Coney Island on the 23rd of June for the 30th Anniversary of the Mermaid Parade. The weather was still bright and sunny, but the two hours or so I spent running up and down Surf Avenue taking pictures was pleasant and draining. Too much was going on to have covered it all, but I hope my selection of images gives you a good taste of what it was like witnessing the parade.

And speaking of photography, photographers had almost full access to the parade route it seemed, even though you were supposed to have purchased a wristband. After the first procession of automobiles passed by, people crowded their way into street wide gaps between barricades pushing out into the parade route. Photographers, pro or otherwise, took the liberty of escaping into the route and crowding every float or group that passed by (obscuring my own shots of Queen Mermaid Annabella Sciorra and King Neptune Jacking “The Joke Man” Martling) and otherwise creating hostility those attendees with children who obeyed the rules and wanted to see the parade.